Mr. Herschel... brought with him the calculations of the computers, and we commenced the tedious process of verification. After a time many discrepancies occurred, and at one point these discordances were so numerous that I exclaimed, "I wish to God these calculations had been executed by steam," to which Herschel replied, "It is quite possible."
Charles Babbage's remarks in November 1839, recalling events in 1821; as quoted in Harry Wilmot Buxton and Anthony Hyman "Memoir of the Life and Labours of the Late Charles Babbage", 1988.
